English

Central limit theorems for random multiplicative functions over function fields

Number Theory 2025-12-09 v2 Probability

Abstract

We provide a sufficient characterization for subsets A\mathcal{A} of the polynomial ring Fq[t]\mathbb{F}_q[t] for which partial sums of Steinhaus random multiplicative functions approach a complex standard normal distribution. This extends recent work of Soundararajan and Xu to the function field setting. We apply this characterization to deduce central limit theorems in four cases: polynomials in short intervals, polynomials with few prime factors, shifted primes, and rough polynomials. In doing so, we also establish an explicit Hildebrand inequality for smooth polynomials in short intervals, a function field form of Shiu's theorem for multiplicative functions, and an explicit Chebyshev bound for rough polynomials in short intervals.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2511.22905,
  title  = {Central limit theorems for random multiplicative functions over function fields},
  author = {Declan Hoban and Jibran Iqbal Shah and Nadya-Catherine Ismail and William Verreault and Asif Zaman},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.22905},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

31 pages; added a few references and Remark 2.2.1

R2 v1 2026-07-01T07:58:50.514Z